BENTON, Ill. — A federal judge sentenced a 34-year-old Peoria man to 10 years in prison after he traveled to southern Illinois to engage in sexual activity with a purported minor.

Mitch M. Titus pleaded guilty to one count of attempted enticement of a minor on Dec. 14, 2023.

According to documents and evidence presented during court hearings, Titus responded to a forum on social media posted by an undercover detective with the Illinois State Police posing as an inexperienced minor.

Titus had sexually explicit conversations with who he believed to be a 14-year-old minor from September 27 through October 4, 2022.

As the conversation progressed, Titus arranged to meet the purported minor in Carbondale, where instead law enforcement was waiting and detained him.

The Illinois State Police and the Illinois Attorney General’s Office Internet Crimes Against Children Taskforce contributed to the investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorney Casey Bloodworth prosecuted the case.